The Nasdaq had been dragged down, as has the stock market and the Dow Jones, throughout the fourth quarter of 2000 by anxiety over the carnage in the technology sector. As layoffs in the dot-com world began to become almost cliché, faith in the ability of much of the sector to survive became shaky at best. Concern over the real estate market's ability in the future to soak the vacancies mass layoffs will create has also begun to surface.

Traditional bricks and mortar businesses are currently enjoying tremendous expansion of space, making most dot-com vacancies seem almost inconsequential as the space is quickly grabbed. If all sectors of the economy are forced to confront a true recession as some are now fearing, however, the rate at which companies will take over vacated dotcom space may slow significantly as the rate at which they fold accelerates.

At 24/7 Media, for example, during the fourth quarter 200 employees were laid off, with an additional 100 layoffs just announced last week right before the new year. Company officials, in a live conference call, commented, "On-line advertising remains cloudy," blaming the "relatively slow pace" of American companies to embrace new technology options for marketing. While officials say they are very successful in a Europe, here they say continued "education" is required to bring companies into the new century.